Loki S2 Episode 1 "Ouroboros" Review: A Mischievous Return For A Glorious Purpose

Time indeed travels by quickly as viewers are treated to the masterly return of the Asgardian God of Mischief, Loki, in his second solo outing in Loki Season 2. As part of the MCU's Phase 5 timeline, the series doesn't skip a beat by jumping back into the chaos following the near cataclysmic ending to the first season.

Granted, the season recap served as a refresher on the events that led to the first episode of Season 2, including Loki's original conquest from Thor, the character's evolution to splitting off from the timeline that began Loki Season 1. How exactly did Loki Season 2 Episode 1 "Ouroboros" fair? Did it succumb to the woes of Kang the Conqueror, or was it a glorious success?

Loki S2 "Ouroboros" Episode Review: The God Of Mischief Saving The Multiverse

Forever burdened with glorious purpose.

Episode 1 of Marvel Studios’ #Loki Season 2, an Original series, starts streaming tonight at 6PM PT on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/4dR7595iH1

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) October 5, 2023

Episode 1, "Ouroboros," picks up not long after these events as Loki seeks out Agent Mobius, the one that remembers him as he evades security throughout the TVA. Loki, however, has a new problem to deal with as he intermittently phases out of time, briefly traveling between the past and present with no sign of stopping.

Meanwhile, Mobius and Hunter B-15 have been called in by the Time Keepers as Loki phases back to present-time TVA, revealing that he, Who Remains, had been secretly an entity within the TVA. Everyone with the TVA from the Time Keepers, Minutemen, Miss Minutes, and yes, Loki had a hand in helping him succeed as their plans get halted momentarily as Mobius informed Loki that he knows of "someone" to help him with his problem.

That "someone" is the TVA's Chief Engineer and new MCU fan-favorite, Ouroboros, but call him O.B. portrayed with such reverence and delight by recent Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). While O.B.'s gadgets and mechanisms are seen throughout the TVA and possibly within the MCU, he alerts the duo that Loki is time-slipping as they race to Temporal Loom, a control center of sorts that refines raw time into physical manifestations of the timeline.

And before you ask, this does include the Sacred Timeline briefly seen in Season 1, or if you're a Marvel Snap player, a location inspired by the Sacred Timeline is featured. O.B. is wholly responsible for maintaining the Temporal Loom and preventing malfunctions, but problems arise in this episode due to Loki's time-slipping.

While the comedic banter between O.B. and Mobius, whom the latter hadn't visited in 400 years, was fun to watch, much of what Mobius had to do to save Loki often got lost among the antics. It wasn't long before Loki disappeared yet again, and Mobius kicked out of the Temporal Loom which he needed to use another one of O.B.'s quirky devices, the Temporal Aura Extractor, to pull Loki throughout time when locked onto his position and correctly place him in the timeline, akin to pruning variants.

Loki is essentially repairing the chaos his variant, Sylvie, had created after stabbing He Who Remains to death, which caused the overload of the Temporal Loom and how the power surges started. This also caused Loki to time-slip, which makes repairing the Temporal Loom and protecting the Sacred Timeline an all-important task for O.B., which includes guarding the blast doors to prevent anyone from entering the TVA from different timelines.

It's pretty clear that the Temporal Loom and the Sacred Timeline will have a more significant role to play, and so will O.B. As Mobius and Loki succeed in their tasks, another matter becomes all-important for Loki: locating Sylvie as a handful of agents are out for the Loki variant who finds herself at a McDonald's in Oklahoma as the episode concludes.

The episode does a fine job of tying up loose ends from the first season, which became public knowledge that the finale was changed after Season 2 was greenlit. However, the departure of director Kate Herron saw Moon Knight directing duo, Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, handling the series in Loki's latest adventures, which is a fantastic choice, especially given that "Ouroboros" and Moon Knight's "The Tomb" episode share similar beats and comedic tones.

However, the episode's plot does feel a little tricky and confusing to follow amongst the witty moments; however, the focus on deep character work, the impending collapse of the timelines, and the astronomical threat of Kang the Conqueror make for a fun yet compelling viewing. While the humor can be a little too much, it didn't take away from how wild the journey will be, and the addition of Ke Huy Quan and the new directing team didn't hinder the show's success, not in the slightest.

New episodes of Loki Season 2 are released every Thursday at 6 pm P.T. and 1 am UTC / 2 am BST on Friday on Disney+. Loki Season 1 is available to stream.